In one of the most disturbing events in recent history, a generation of American schoolchildren was forced out of the classroom for months, in many places, years, by adults who ignored available facts and abused public trust regarding COVID-19. These children lost irreplaceable time learning, socializing, and developing. Many still have not recovered, and some never will.
Anthony Fauci may be the one making headlines now, and for good reason. But amid the fervor, we cannot forget the person bearing equal responsibility for this catastrophe when it comes to American children: Randi Weingarten.
Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), can keep insisting, “<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/04/dont-let-them-rewrite-the-pandemic/">We</a><a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/04/dont-let-them-rewrite-the-pandemic/"> spent every day from February on trying to get schools open</a>,” just as Fauci can keep demanding, “<a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/25/fauci-absolves-himself-of-responsibility-for-lockdowns-in-testy-interview/">Show </a><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/04/25/fauci-absolves-himself-of-responsibility-for-lockdowns-in-testy-interview/">me a school that I shut down</a>,” but parents remember what happened. Their children were the collateral damage of a reckless alliance in which Weingarten weaponized Fauci’s rhetoric and recommendations as scientific cover to exercise enormous control over when, how, and whether schools reopened.
Fauci did little to help his own case by invoking the Fifth Amendment 111 times as senators asked him under oath to explain his COVID-era decisions. That alone carried obvious implications of wrongdoing, or at least an effort to conceal the full extent of his role in the damage that followed. And now, thanks to his newly released diaries, we know that in private he practically bragged about his influence over initial school closures and early reopening decisions that would set the course for the rest of the country.
Whatever justification existed for that initial caution disappeared by the summer of 2020, when <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6914e4.htm">evidence </a>increasingly showed that children faced far lower risks of hospitalization and death than adults, and early reports from reopened schools suggested that classrooms were not major drivers of community transmission. By May, <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/05/25/10-key-education-recommendations-for-reopening-the-k-12-classroom/?_gl=1*1ydi0ty*_gcl_au*MzQzMzgyMTgzLjE3ODY1NTYzODE.*_ga*NjQ5NDA4OTQ5LjE3ODY1NTYzODE.*_ga_W14BT6YQ87*czE3ODY1NTYzODAkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODY1NTYzODAkajYwJGwwJGgw">organizations </a>such as the Heritage Foundation released guidance on how schools could reopen safely, with states prioritizing a back-to-school plan that had students physically present, since closures were already harming children.
That should have been the end of the shutdown debate. Weingarten, however, made sure it was not. She capitalized on Fauci’s public words, using his authority to legitimize an ever-expanding list of union demands that kept her members home for as long as possible, children be damned.
In July 2020, the AFT threatened lawsuits and “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/28/aft-strikes-school-reopening-384133">safety </a><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/28/aft-strikes-school-reopening-384133">strikes</a>” against reopening plans, declaring that “nothing is off the table” in its fight to keep schools closed. It then demanded community positivity below 5%, transmission below 1%, surveillance and contact tracing, accommodations for high-risk employees, and authority to close schools again if their conditions were not met.
That same month, Weingarten brought Fauci before the AFT’s convention, where he warned educators that if they returned to their classrooms, they would become “<a href="https://www.aft.org/news/dr-anthony-fauci-calls-safety-paramount-reopening-schools">part </a><a href="https://www.aft.org/news/dr-anthony-fauci-calls-safety-paramount-reopening-schools">of the experiment</a>” in determining what would happen. With the country’s most recognizable public-health figure validating her “caution,” Weingarten could present the AFT’s growing list of demands as reliably rooted in science.
By February 2021, the AFT, a labor union with no scientific or public-health authority, was actively shaping federal reopening policy behind closed doors. In the weeks before the CDC released its February 2021 guidance, Weingarten and other AFT officials <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/06/02/texts-reveal-exchange-between-cdc-director-teachers-union-boss-before-school-reopening-memo/">spoke </a><a href="https://nypost.com/2023/06/02/texts-reveal-exchange-between-cdc-director-teachers-union-boss-before-school-reopening-memo/">repeatedly</a> with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on her direct phone line, persuading the agency to adopt two proposed changes that gave unions and school districts more grounds to delay full reopening or close classrooms again. They thanked the CDC for treating the union as a “<a href="https://californiapolicycenter.org/science-with-the-union-label/">thought </a><a href="https://californiapolicycenter.org/science-with-the-union-label/">partner</a>.”  
Through it all, the AFT dismissed the documented academic, developmental, and psychological <a href="https://abcnews.com/US/school-closures-put-children-risk/story?id=70329613">damage </a>inflicted on children by prolonged school closures. They simply did not care.
Weingarten would not call for schools to reopen fully, five days a week, until May 2021. By then, millions of children had already lost more than a year of learning and social development they could never get back.
And for more than six years now, parents have been forced to watch the consequences of Weingarten’s selfish and baseless decisions play out in our own children’s academic struggles, mental health challenges, and delayed development.
The 2022 Nation’s Report Card recorded some of the largest declines in student achievement ever measured. Four years later, national reading and math scores still <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/teens-reading-and-math-scores-have-stagnated-us-test-results-show">remain </a>below pre-pandemic levels. As of 2025, more than <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/658100/pandemic-hurt-children-social-skills-mental-health.aspx">one </a><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/658100/pandemic-hurt-children-social-skills-mental-health.aspx">in five parents</a> said the damage to their children’s mental health or social development still had not gone away.
Fauci may be the one invoking the Fifth now, but it was Weingarten who used his warnings as cover to hold school reopenings hostage to her union’s demands. Millions of families are still dealing with the ramifications of her influence. Her unscientific, entirely political power plays must not go unanswered, and Weingarten needs to be held accountable for continuing to prioritize political agendas over children.
***
Alleigh Marré is the executive director of American Parents Coalition and a mother of four.

Florida Schools Prepare To Open

The Generational Toll Of Randi Weingarten’s Pandemic Politics

American Federation of Teachers

Anthony Fauci

COVID-19

DW Opinion

Randi Weingarten

School closures

A key Senate committee voted Thursday morning to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt for repeatedly refusing to answer questions about his handling of the COVID pandemic.  
The Senate Homeland Security Committee, led by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), voted 8-7 to adopt a resolution from the Kentucky Republican holding Fauci in contempt. All Republicans voted in favor and all Democrats voted against. Fauci pleaded the Fifth more than 100 times after he was called in to give testimony last week on coronavirus funding at the Wuhan lab in China and the government response to the pandemic. 
“We are voting on whether a witness who has received the benefit of a sweeping federal pardon can be ordered by this committee to answer questions and then defy that order without consequence,” Paul said. &#8220;All that was required from Anthony Fauci last week was to tell the truth. He had no liability if he told the truth.&#8221;
“More than a million Americans died from COVID. Many of them died alone. Workers were forced to choose between a mandate and a job they needed. Businesses closed and never reopened. Children lost years of school. They will never get back. Americans lost the freedom to work, to worship, and to decide what went into their own bodies. Nothing we do today can undo those losses, but silence does not honor them either,” he added. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-every-page-of-faucis-tell-all-diary">READ IT: Every Page Of Fauci’s Tell-All Diary</a>
Paul told The Daily Wire on Wednesday that he planned to send a criminal referral to the Justice Department after his resolution passed committee. 
“Historically, votes like this have gone to the full Senate, but I think there’s no absolute rule that says we can’t send it directly to the Department of Justice,” Paul said. “So my plan is that if we win the vote on Thursday, to immediately send it to the Department of Justice with a recommendation for prosecution, even if it passes the whole Senate.”
If convicted of contempt of Congress, Fauci could be <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/LSB10974">fined</a> up to $100,000 and sentenced to up to one year in prison. During the Biden administration, Trump allies Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro were sentenced to prison after being held in contempt of Congress.
President Joe Biden issued a last-minute pardon to Fauci for his conduct during COVID just hours before he left office.
Before the vote, Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) claimed that holding Fauci in contempt would “harm our ability to conduct future investigations and disregard constitutional protections long recognized by the U.S. Senate.” He also said he would oppose Paul sending the criminal referral without approval from the full Senate. 
Democrats repeatedly failed to get motions passed to delay the vote on the contempt resolution.
As part of Paul&#8217;s investigation into Fauci, the committee obtained and released his diaries, which were maintained on government servers. The committee also obtained Fauci&#8217;s phone records from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Anthony Fauci Testifies with Rand Paul and Homeland Security Committee

Fauci Held In Contempt After Refusing To Answer Questions About Bombshell Diary

Gary Peters

Rand Paul

Senate

A Senate panel investigating Dr. Anthony Fauci has reportedly obtained a copy of the cellphone he used during the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of a key committee vote Thursday to hold him in contempt of Congress. 
The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/anthony-fauci-covid-phone-senate-96ebd8be?st=68LAAW">Wall Street Journal</a> reported Wednesday that the Department of Health and Human Services, which is led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, transferred a copy of the phone&#8217;s records to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 
Fauci used the phone during his tenure as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, according to The Journal, which also revealed that Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have obtained &#8220;millions of additional Fauci-related pages&#8221; from government servers.
On Wednesday, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/when-it-comes-to-anthony-fauci-rand-paul-is-just-getting-started?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=When+It+Comes+To+Anthony+Fauci%2C+Rand+Paul+Is+Just+Getting+Started">The Daily Wire</a> interviewed Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, whose release of Fauci&#8217;s private diaries helped set the stage for an explosive Capitol Hill hearing where Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
“Historically, votes like this have gone to the full Senate, but I think there’s no absolute rule that says we can’t send it directly to the Department of Justice,” Paul said. “So my plan is that if we win the vote on Thursday, to immediately send it to the Department of Justice with a recommendation for prosecution, even if it passes the whole Senate.”
Paul’s office sent two criminal referrals to the Biden Justice Department, the senator said, and two more under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“This will be the first time that our entire committee or the majority of our committee sends it,” he noted. “So we’ll see what happens. We’ll discuss with [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune whether or not he thinks he can get the votes to do it on the floor.”
A floor vote would require 60 votes to pass, meaning Democrats would have to cooperate. Last week, Thune said that Fauci’s answers were “completely inadequate” and that the floor vote was “certainly an option that ought to be available to us.”
Paul told The Daily Wire that he does not expect Democrats to support a contempt vote and that he wants the Justice Department to prosecute Fauci for contempt of Congress. He plans to send the DOJ a legal brief arguing that Fauci could not invoke the Fifth Amendment because President Joe Biden&#8217;s pardon eliminated any risk of self-incrimination, leaving him with only an obligation to answer truthfully.
Statutory penalties for <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/192">contempt of Congress</a>, a federal misdemeanor, carry fines between $100 and $100,000 and a mandatory sentence of one to 12 months in prison.
“This is an important case because I think a lot of people anticipate that President Trump is going to issue similar pardons to many people in his administration who will end up being called before Congress, and the precedent here is important,” Mark Osler, a law professor and pardon power expert, told the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fauci-fifth-amendment-congress-justice-department-paul-868a0dfcf016d830571fb6a78afae4f9">Associated Press. </a>
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

US-POLITICS-HEALTH-VIRUS-HEARING

Fauci’s COVID Phone Turned Over To Senate Panel Ahead Of Contempt Vote

Coronavirus

fauci diaries

Health

Investigations

News

Pandemic

Politics

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

U.S. Senate

Newly released emails show that Dr. Anthony Fauci, while serving as a top member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, pressured Dr. Deborah Birx to back his play and conspired to get Dr. Scott Atlas ousted from the team.
In a series of emails shared by economic historian Phil Magness on Monday, Fauci spoke with other officials like Birx and then-NIH Director Francis Collins about how to get rid of Atlas and how they could best coordinate their efforts to discredit the &#8220;Great Barrington Declaration&#8221; — which made the case against broad lockdowns and advocated for achieving herd immunity by providing &#8220;focused protection&#8221; for vulnerable populations — and its authors.
The exchange began on October 11, 2020, when Fauci shared an article from the far-left publication &#8220;The Nation&#8221; with Collins. The article, written by epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, framed the ideas of herd immunity and focused protection as &#8220;deadly delusions.&#8221; On October 14, Gonsalves <a href="https://x.com/PhilWMagness/status/2084428976047509686">responded</a> to both Collins and Fauci in an email with a subject line that read, &#8220;Thank You For Your Frank Comments on Herd Immunity (Larry Kramer Would Be Proud).&#8221;
Further correspondence from that same day showed Fauci coordinating with Gonsalves, Birx complaining about Atlas, and Fauci bragging to Gonsalves about how he was working to <a href="https://x.com/PhilWMagness/status/2084428093234573461">undermine</a> Atlas at the White House.
&#8220;I am trying to get this jerk shut down by working from within the White House,&#8221; Fauci said of Atlas. &#8220;They promise they will handle it and nothing happens. I will keep trying.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m just glad it&#8217;s in the open who has been undermining Tony and I at the White House and who was manipulating the data,&#8221; Birx replied. &#8220;We are pushing back very hard.&#8221;
In another <a href="https://x.com/PhilWMagness/status/2084429691016958291">October 14 email</a>, Fauci compared proponents of the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) to &#8220;AIDS denialists&#8221; — a move that Magness found ironic since Fauci himself had spread false information about AIDS in the 1980s, saying that it could be transmitted through casual contact.
Gonsalves continued to complain about  GBD advocates in yet another email from <a href="https://x.com/PhilWMagness/status/2084427800740536813">October 14</a>, saying, &#8220;Don&#8217;t even get me started. Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta, and Jay Bhattacharya (with who I am part of a grant, BTW), can suck it. I have never been so ashamed of my community of epidemiologists/decision-scientists.&#8221;
On October 15, Fauci emailed Birx directly to relay a <a href="https://x.com/PhilWMagness/status/2084427218894135701">conversation</a> he&#8217;d had with presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, saying that he&#8217;d been lobbying the White House adviser to help him get rid of Atlas.
&#8220;I really laid it on him but he still does not completely understand how dangerous this guy is. He is still in the realm of &#8216;differences of opinion,'&#8221; Fauci wrote, pressing Birx to follow up and drive the point home with Kushner. &#8220;You have got to speak with Jared and confirm what I said that this guy is killing people. I likened him to the AIDS denialists of the 1980s.&#8221;
The thread concludes with an <a href="https://x.com/PhilWMagness/status/2084425142944387310">email</a> sent by Fauci to Birx on October 16, 2020, in which he tells her what to say since he will not be present at task force meetings that day.
&#8220;Over the past week I have come out very strongly publicly against the &#8216;Great Barrington Declaration.&#8217; Scott Atlas may try to counter this. Please speak out for me,&#8221; Fauci directed, asserting that Atlas was also likely to deny the possibility that COVID-19 could cause residual effects. &#8220;This is all part of his theme that infections do not bother healthy people. Please speak out when he tries to play these things down.&#8221;
Fauci was supposed to testify on Capitol Hill last week, but spent the entirety of his time responding to questions — from queries about the origins of the pandemic to the color of his tie — by invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.

Dr. Fauci Testifies In House On COVID Origins

Emails Show How Fauci Conspired Against White House COVID Adviser

New Fauci Emails Show Him Pressuring Birx, Conspiring Against Atlas

Dr. Deborah Birx

Media

Scott Atlas

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers did his best Dr. Anthony Fauci impression live on ESPN before laying into the former White House COVID-19 adviser. 
The four-time MVP and Super Bowl champion is in the midst of his 22nd training camp, and he joined &#8220;The Pat McAfee Show&#8221; live from Steelers training camp — but attacked Fauci instead of giving an answer to the opening question.
“I’m gonna plead the Fifth. Like that absolute coward Tony Fauci,” Rodgers said on the show. “Absolute coward. Are you kidding me? You got a pardon, and you pleaded over 100 times at the White House? What are you scared of, Tony? I thought you were the science?”
The legendary quarterback&#8217;s tirade came just days after the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases invoked his Fifth Amendment right 111 times in response to questions regarding anything from the COVID-19 pandemic to the color of his tie.
The former Green Bay Packer and New York Jet spent the rest of his time on &#8220;The Pat McAfee Show&#8221; explaining his disgust with both the recent hearing and Fauci&#8217;s diary, published days before the hearing by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).
In addition to Fauci, Rodgers saved some of his ire for ESPN for not covering the Fauci hearing as closely as it had covered Rodgers&#8217; comments on McAfee’s show in 2021 — regarding him not being vaccinated but being “immunized.” After testing positive, he acknowledged he was in the crosshairs of the “woke mob.”
The Steelers signal-caller said that the network would much rather focus on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wedding — or even the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-times-blows-the-dianna-russini-nfl-scandal-wide-open?author=Gus+Wilson&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=54&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Report+Blows+The+Dianna+Russini+NFL+Scandal+Wide+Open">Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel scandal</a> that broke earlier this offseason — than discuss the hearing.
Rodgers is the second member of the NFL to reference Fauci following the hearing, with Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio opening his press conference by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-nfl-coach-mocks-fauci-for-pleading-the-fifth">pleading the Fifth</a> last Thursday.
Despite multiple claims that ESPN was staying quiet over Fauci’s infamous hearing, Rodgers did “give flowers” to McAfee’s colleague Stephen A. Smith for apologizing to NBA star Kyrie Irving after initially criticizing Irving about his stance on the COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.
McAfee and the rest of the members of the show made sure to give kudos to Rodgers for not backing down throughout the entire pandemic on his stance.
“I feel great about it. I told you I’ll be on the right side of history,” he said.

AFC Wild Card Playoffs: Houston Texans v Pittsburgh Steelers

Aaron Rodgers Goes Scorched Earth On Anthony Fauci

Aaron Rodgers

Dr. Fauci

Pat McAfee

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. laid into CNN anchor Dana Bash during a Sunday morning interview, arguing that her network — and media across the board — had been complicit in efforts to silence anyone who raised questions about the COVID-19 pandemic orthodoxy.
Kennedy began by pointing out just how quickly Constitutional rights had been trampled as people who spoke out or refused the COVID-19 vaccines faced cancellation, getting fired from their jobs, or worse — and Bash immediately tried to move the conversation in a different direction.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This was a long-overdue moment on CNN.
RFK Jr. called out the network on air for helping to silence dissent during COVID.
Dana Bash was getting visibly irritated, after she repeatedly tried to move the conversation away from censorship.
Then he aimed his fire at Dana Bash… <a href="https://t.co/yHmIxjgz25">pic.twitter.com/yHmIxjgz25</a>
— Overton (@overton_news) <a href="https://x.com/overton_news/status/2083918836999332300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;We need to protect our constitutional rights. That is the primary obligation in our country,” Kennedy began.
&#8220;What does that mean?&#8221; Bash asked.
&#8220;Well, during COVID, we completely dismantled our constitutional rights. We began censoring people in violation of the First Amendment,&#8221; he explained, but Bash interrupted.
&#8220;You’re saying what not to do, I’m asking what to do,&#8221; she protested.
Kennedy pushed back: &#8220;Well, that’s something to do. That is the number one priority: we protect the Constitution.&#8221;
&#8220;Forgive me, but you’re talking about rights and I’m asking about a potential public health crisis that is coming. But I do want to … let’s …&#8221; Bash tried to redirect him.
&#8220;And one of the mistakes we made last time was suppressing those rights. So people weren’t being heard. Doctors who were saying, ‘You’re doing it wrong,’ were being marginalized and vilified,&#8221; Kennedy made it clear that he was not going to be deterred.
Bash tried once more, saying, &#8220;Again, I really want to move on …”
&#8220;Yeah, of course you want to move on because you were part of the problem!&#8221; Kennedy shot back.
&#8220;No! I wasn’t part of the problem!&#8221; Bash objected.
&#8220;There was absolute press malpractice. Your job is to have a fierce skepticism toward authority, and you weren’t doing that,&#8221; Kennedy continued, arguing that many in media were to blame for doing the same. &#8220;You were beating up on people who were dissenting!&#8221;

HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr Testifies At Senate Finance Hearing

RFK Jr. Unloads On CNN Anchor Over COVID: ‘You Were Part Of The Problem!’

RFK Jr. Unloads On CNN Anchor Over COVID: 'You Were Part Of The Problem!'

Dana Bash

Dr. Ashish Jha the former White House COVID 19 Response Coordinator now <a href="https://x.com/joshrogin/status/2083955507455279595?s=46">says</a> the origin of the coronavirus pandemic was likely a lab leak from Wuhan than a natural outbreak.
Jha made the comments recently and described how his thinking has shifted. “This is going to surprise some people,” he said. “When I went into the White House, my view was this was almost surely a natural outbreak, maybe a lab leak. Based on information I’ve learned and based on information I’ve seen, I have come to conclude it is more likely to have been a lab leak … We still need transparency and accountability on this.”
Jha was very wary of the limits of what is known. He said that no one in the United States could know for sure, and that the only people who do know for sure are the officials in China who have been less than forthcoming with the information. Transparency and accountability remain necessary, he repeated.
The comments emerge as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-hero-complex-that-held-america-hostage?author=Ben+Shapiro&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Hero+Complex+That+Held+America+Hostage">details</a> from Anthony Fauci&#8217;s personal diary have drawn attention. Those private writings, released by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), include an entry from as early as January 26, 2020, in which Fauci recorded that the virus almost certainly did not come from a wet market — a theory floated early on in the pandemic. The diary shows Fauci privately treated a laboratory connection as the more plausible explanation, despite his public insistence on a natural origin.
Jha presented his conclusion as his current best judgment after reviewing the information available to him. He did not claim final proof. The gap between early public emphasis on a natural spillover and the private assessments now coming to light keeps attention on how the origins question was handled even from the very beginning.
Both Jha&#8217;s comments and the diary entries underline the same basic problem: without fuller access to data and records from the relevant laboratories and early outbreak sites in Wuhan definitive answers stay incomplete.
The diary entries from Fauci show that private doubts about the wet market explanation existed at high levels from the first weeks of 2020. Jha has now put a similar assessment on the public record years later. Full answers still depend on greater transparency from the relevant officials in China.

Fauci Pleads The Fifth Amendment In Senate Covid Hearing

Biden COVID Czar Finally Admits Virus Came From Chinese Lab

Ashish Jha

Fauci hearing

White House

Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio prompted laughter at his Thursday morning press conference, taking a jab at former White House COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Fangio opened his press conference with a reference to Fauci&#8217;s grilling on Capitol Hill one day prior — during which the former White House official had repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights — saying that maybe he shouldn&#8217;t have to answer any questions either.
&#8220;Vic, what&#8217;s the plan at safety?&#8221; one reporter asked. &#8220;Is that Marcus&#8217; [Epps] job to lose?&#8221;
&#8220;I’m gonna be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on all questions,&#8221; Fangio laughed, as did several around the room. &#8220;Did you guys see that? Oh my God.&#8221;
After a brief pause, Fangio took on a slightly more serious tone and asked, &#8220;What was the question?&#8221;
The room immediately erupted in laughter again as one reporter, feigning outrage, jokingly accused Fangio of having the Fauci jab &#8220;lined up&#8221; as his first response regardless of the question.
Throughout Wednesday&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fauci-faces-congress-as-explosive-diaries-take-center-stage?author=DailyWire%2B&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=27&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=After+Fauci+Pleads+The+Fifth%2C+Rand+Paul+Makes+Contempt+Move">hearing</a>, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right in response to every direct question, whether it was a substantive question about the draconian policies he&#8217;d foisted on Americans during the COVID pandemic or a simple question about the color of his tie or the rights provided under the Fifth Amendment.
At one point, under direct questioning from Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH), Fauci even refused to turn and face the group of people in the gallery who said they had faced ridicule, cancellation, firings, and worse for daring to question the accepted orthodoxy — largely dictated by Fauci himself — throughout the pandemic.

NFL: SEP 21 Rams at Eagles

WATCH: NFL Coach Mocks Fauci For Pleading The Fifth

NFL Coach Mocks Fauci For Pleading Fifth Amendment

Sports

Punch-Fauci

The Data That Shows How Fauci Broke Bad

Alexis Madrigal

COVID Tracking Project

COVID-19 Vaccine

Jay Bhattacharya

Matthias Shapiro

Weekend Punch

As newly released diary entries have thrust Dr. Anthony Fauci back into the spotlight, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed&#8217;s own pandemic-era podcast offers a glimpse into just how closely he aligned himself with the former White House adviser.  
El-Sayed had hosted a podcast sporadically since 2019, but just seven days into the COVID-19 pandemic, he ramped up production to two episodes a week focused on the virus and public health policy. A review of the episodes by The Daily Wire found that El-Sayed repeatedly praised Fauci, defended his handling of the pandemic, and echoed many of his positions while attacking the former NIH official&#8217;s critics.
In a 2021 <a href="https://www.crooked.com/podcast/a-second-opinion-with-dr-anthony-fauci/">interview</a> with Fauci, El-Sayed described him as the “face of infectious disease science and medicine dating back all the way to the first outbreak of HIV/AIDS in the 80s.” 
“Throughout the pandemic, his honesty, candor, and stubborn insistence on science have been a source of confidence and comfort for many of us,&#8221; El-Sayed said while introducing Fauci. &#8220;Even if it’s meant he’s become a lightning rod for trolls on the right.” 
The “trolls on the right” comment seemed to be describing Fauci critics like Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
On Wednesday, Paul and Fauci met again in Congress after Paul released pages from Fauci&#8217;s diary that he says contradict the former COVID adviser&#8217;s public messaging on the virus&#8217;s origins, his views of political figures including President Trump, and his preoccupation with media attention and fame. 
During the 2021 interview, El-Sayed used the podcast episode to accuse Paul of putting politics ahead of science. Fauci agreed.
“Though he should know better, Dr. Senator Paul has chosen feeding red meat to his political base over following the science that he trained on,” said El-Sayed. “We were fortunate that Dr. Anthony Fauci was there to check him every single time.&#8221;
He lamented that &#8220;the country’s top infectious disease expert has to routinely spar with another doctor in the Senate over basic science around getting vaccinated or wearing a mask in the pandemic.”
El-Sayed also argued that Paul and other vaccine skeptics had exploited what he called the evolving nature of scientific guidance.
“People like Rand Paul and the legions of vaccine resisters they inspire have exploited a peculiar aspect of this pandemic,” El-Sayed said. “The fact that all of us are trying to interpret changing science in real time.”
Like Fauci, El-Sayed built much of his public profile during the pandemic by presenting himself as a physician and public health expert while advocating for some of the country&#8217;s most aggressive COVID mitigation measures. In 2021, he pushed for Michigan to go back under another statewide lockdown, suggested fining businesses that attempted to open, and criticized Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for allowing kids to return to school without mask mandates.
The pandemic also elevated El-Sayed&#8217;s national profile. In addition to his podcast, he made frequent television appearances and later became a CNN contributor.
El-Sayed, who earned a medical degree but has never completed a residency or obtained a medical license to practice medicine, is now seeking Michigan&#8217;s open U.S. Senate seat.
Fauci&#8217;s diary resurfaced this week as he appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During Wednesday&#8217;s hearing, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times while answering questions about the diary entries and his handling of the COVID pandemic.
Former President Joe Biden issued Fauci a preemptive pardon during the final hours of his presidency.

Abdul_Fauci_mirror

Could Americans Be Voting For Fauci 2.0 Without Realizing It?

Abdul El-Sayed

Fauci

medicine

Michigan

Podcast

As Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed campaigns for the U.S. Senate, his calls during the COVID-19 pandemic for renewed lockdowns, business fines, and expanded vaccination are likely to face scrutiny. 
During his failed 2021 campaign for Michigan governor, El-Sayed said he would have ordered another statewide shutdown to slow the spread of COVID.
“There’s no question,” El-Sayed <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/apr-23-2021-rep-david-lagrand-off-the-record-mzyrt1/">said</a> when asked whether, as governor, he would shut the state down. “If you look at where the science and where the science has been. The CDC itself has suggested that we ought to shut things down. And we know that shutdowns in the past have been successful whether it was in the Spring or the Fall. This is a responsibility.” 
El-Sayed proposed what he described as a two- to three-week &#8220;pause&#8221; and said that if businesses did not comply, they should face “a very annoying but real fine.” 
“I get that people are sick of this but it’s the right thing to do to stop the spread of this contagious variant of the virus. What is the alternative?” 
He also argued that systemic racism and poverty contributed to challenges in distributing vaccines in cities such as Detroit.
“We know the biggest challenge to delivering public health in a community like Detroit, because of systemic racism and poverty it creates, is the last mile problem,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You can offer a vaccine in places…but we all now that is not really where people actually live and we got to get them out to people’s doorstep.” 
To address vaccine hesitancy, El-Sayed proposed working with trusted community leaders, including pastors and neighborhood organizations.
&#8220;What I’d like to see, right, and this is a big lift, right, is more focus on taking on the vaccine hesitancy, whether it’s a block club captain or a local pastor and thinking about that last mile problem by putting vaccines on wheels and getting them out into people’s communities,” he said. 
During the pandemic, El-Sayed also launched a twice-weekly podcast to keep listeners informed about COVID-19 and public health policy. At the time, he described himself as “a physician and former city health commissioner,&#8221; while also serving as a CNN contributor focused on public health issues. 
El-Sayed&#8217;s current Senate platform includes support for Medicare for All, codifying abortion rights, and expanding access to so-called &#8220;gender-affirming care.&#8221; His campaign has not specified whether he supports El-Sayed did not specify if he supports &#8220;gender reassignment surgeries&#8221; for children.

Bernie Sanders Continues His “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour In Detroit With Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed

El-Sayed Pushed For Renewed COVID Lockdowns, Fines For Businesses That Defied Them

COVID

Elections

Haley Stevens

On July 29, the United States Senate held a hearing to examine testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci’s response? He showed up for the hearing and then declined to answer any questions about his conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic. He <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/29/politics/anthony-fauci-fifth-amendment-plea">pleaded the Fifth</a>, a choice that spoke volumes. What it didn’t do was close the books.
I tuned in for a simple reason: I wanted accountability. As a doctor, I have spent my career understanding that, along with the privilege that comes from making decisions that affect people’s lives, comes the expectation that I answer for the consequences of those decisions. Dr. Fauci hasn’t lived up to that responsibility.
I wanted him to own up to his gamesmanship on gain-of-function research. To admit that sticking to the wet market explanation for the source of the outbreak was a mistake. To acknowledge that the National Institutes of Health had funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan for years, and that it was <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/wenstrup-releases-alarming-new-report-on-proximal-origin-authors-nih-suppression-of-the-covid-19-lab-leak-hypothesis/">wrong</a> to dismiss the scientists who raised the possibility of a connection between that work as the source of the pandemic. The American public deserved to know whether their taxpayer dollars had supported experiments that had led to the creation of more dangerous pathogens. What we got were word games and evasion.
I wanted answers on masking. I wanted him to admit that the science on masking, especially for healthy people (let alone toddlers), always <a href="https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full">was weak</a>. Lacking any basis in science, is it any wonder that masking became a moral imperative, a litmus test that you were on the side of right, and that if you didn’t comply you should be reported to the relevant authorities.
I wanted him to take accountability for his role in the lockdowns. I wanted him to admit to the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fauci-privately-took-credit-covid-19-lockdowns-despite-public-denial-newly-exposed-diary-entries-reveal">contacts he had with leadership at all levels</a>, from the president to mayors of major cities, conversations that drove school closures, led small businesses to shutter, and left people to die alone.
I wanted him to acknowledge that by the summer of 2020, there was <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.16.20155143v4.full.pdf">strong evidence </a>that continued school closures weren’t just unnecessary for community protection but would likely cause lasting harm to our children. To acknowledge that it was a mistake not just to refuse to listen to competing scientific voices warning about those trade-offs, but also to actively suppress that information. The operating assumption appeared to be that his was the only point of view that should matter, and that dissent would not be tolerated.
I wanted him to explain his basis for the shifting thresholds for herd immunity. At a time when Dr. Fauci and others repeated the mantra, “Follow the science,” he publicly embraced an unscientific approach to vaccination. Herd immunity is grounded in epidemiology and biology, but he admitted to changing his recommendations on how many people needed to be vaccinated for community protection in response to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2020/12/25/fauci-goalposts-herd-immunity">opinion polling</a> results. And when not enough people lined up for the jab, what was his response? That we should <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/11/health/us-coronavirus-monday">“clamp down”</a> on their right to go to school or work if they weren’t willing to get vaccinated voluntarily.
But what I wanted to hear most was an apology. An actual acknowledgment that he has made decisions that have caused lasting damage. Physicians are trained to own their mistakes in individual patient care because people’s lives depend on their trust. When they take roles in public health, that trust is even more essential.
The hearing ended without that acceptance, and the record remains incomplete. Accountability delayed is accountability denied. But make no mistake, the costs of that denial are still being borne by millions of Americans who were hurt by his decisions but didn’t have the luxury of taking the Fifth.
***
Dr. Monique Yohanan, MD, MPH, is director of the Center for Better Health at Independent Women.

Dr. Fauci Betrayed My Profession And The American People

Menu